February in Michigan can be brutal. We are usually knee deep in snow (as we are now) and the sight of sunshine is scarce. Today we decided to make a family trip to get some some fresh, chilled air and to visit the Grand Rapids Art Museum. It actually was sunny today, and it felt great to break up the routine.

For those who don’t know, I work full-time doing design work for a cool, locally owned company here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was for that reason that I was excited to see that the current exhibit at GRAM is Graphic Design – Now in Production with an accompanying exhibit Stephen Frykholm: Herman Miller Picnic Posters. My husband worked for Herman Miller in the Graphic Printing Arts Department from 1986-1992 as the Senior Graphic Typographer. He has stories about his experiences working with Frykholm, so this was a pretty cool exhibit for him to attend as well. Our daughter tagged along, and I’m pretty sure she was just thrilled to be out of the house after a week-long illness.

 

I recommend the current exhibit at the GRAM. I believe that the Frykholm exhibit absolutely outshines the Graphic Design exhibit though. The graphic design exhibit was informative, but not particularly inspiring. Frykholm used this 20 year long poster project as an outlet for his creativity. I particularly enjoyed looking at the posters chronologically to see how they built upon each other to create a whole body of work.

Sundays at the GRAM are great. If you arrive right when they open at noon, you pretty much have the place to yourself. There is also a live concert series that runs every Sunday from 2-3p.m. The best kept secret is that if you are an early bird as we were, you can listen to the musicians warm up and practice as if it is your own personal performance. It is a cool thing to experience is such a great space.

This family had a great afternoon out enjoying one of the many things our fair city has to offer.